Order-holder.



No. 897,332. PATENTED SEPT. 1, 1908.

W. R. WILSON. ORDER HOLDER.

LPPLIGATION FILED SIZPT. 20, 1907 WITNESSES:

ATTORNEY UNITED STATES WILLIAM R. WILSON, OF SAGINAW, MICHIGAN.

ORDERHOLDER.

Specification 0! Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 1, 1908.

Application filed September 20, 1907. Serial No. 393,870.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM It. WILsON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Saginaw, in the county of Saginaw and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Order-Holders; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to holders for books, orders or order blanks, one object of which is to provide a means whereby the hook or other article may he removahly retained in suitable position when in use on the hand of the operator.

More particularly, my invention is designed for use by traveling salesmen or others engaged in commercial business whereby the book or other article may be carried in open position on the outspread hand of the operator to enable the latter to jot down orders received from time to time. Of coulsc, the invention is not restricted in its use to order holders, but may be applied to any book or similar article designed to be held in the hand when in use.

Another object of my invention is the provision of means for retaining order blanks in position to receive data, written thereon from time to time, the blanks being so supported that they are easily and quickly rcmovable to disclose clean order sheets.

The device is )articularly useful for traveling salesmen who generally follow the merchant around his store from place to place taking down the orders given by the mer chant while inspecting his stock. By its use, the recopying of orders is avoided and the order sheets when returned to the supply house constitute the day-hook without further copying.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I is a top plan view of the outside of my invention, and Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the inside of the holder when open (A) indicates the front and (B) the back cover of a holder or book, the covers being flexibly connected together in the usual manmer common to books. The front or lefthand cover is provided at any suitable point near its upper edge with a member (1) extending preferably transversely of the cover and designed to receive the thumb of the op erator. A second member (2) is located on I the outer face of the back or right-hand cover, such second member extending prelerably longitudinally of the rover intermediate its upper and lower edges and adjarent the flexible connecting barktl) between the covers. I

The member (2) is designed to receive the lingers of the operator. It is obvious that the members (1) and (2) may be either rigid or flexible and might constitute pockets to receive the thumb and fingers of the operator, but as shown, I prefer to form them of flexible strips, the member (1) being secured at one end to the cover, as at (4) and having an enlargement (5) at its opposite end, the free end of the strip passing loosely beneath a keeper (6), the enlargement (5) preventing the disengagement of the strap and keeper. Similarly the member (2) consists pref, rably of a strip or strap having enlargements (7i (7 at each end, the ends of the strap passing loosely beneath kee Jers (S) (S), the enlargements preventing the disengagement of the strap and keepers. By making the members flexible they may be llatleued out upon the covers to enable the book or holder to be easily inserted in and removed from a pocket,

In use, assuming the book or holder to he in closed position, the operator inserts his thumb beneath the strap (1) and his fingers beneath the strap (2), after which upon opening the hand, the covers are opened to disclose the contents of the book. When it is desired to close the book or holder, the thum b and fingers are brought toward each other, thereby closing the book after which the thumb and fingers are removed from beneath the. straps, the latter flattened out if desired and the book or holder placed in the. pocket or other receptacle.

This device is particularly designed for traveling salesmen and others engaged in taking orders, to which end I provide the inner face of the left-hand cover along the longitudinal edge thereof with a plurality of angular studs (ll) (9) designed to he received in apertures (10) (10) formed in the left-hand ends of a series of order blanks (11) (11), the opposite free right-hand ends of which are received in a shallow ocket (12) extending longitudinally along tie outer edge of the right-hand cover and on the inner face thereof. It is obvious that a spring holder will not serve in place of the studs (9) (9) as it would necessitate the use of both hands to remove an order sheet, one to hold the spring open while the other removed. the sheet. Also it is obvious that the )oeket (12) must be shallow, otherwise it will cover up valuable space on the order sheets.

I am aware of a holder provided only with a deep pocket for receiving and containing the free right-hand ends of a blank or memorandum book, such pocket constituting the only means for retaining the leaves in place, but the depth of the pocket would cover up and cause the right-hand ends of the leaves to be wasted, whereas in my device the. shallow pocket would not revcnt the accidental disengagement of the eaves with the cover, and hence by utilizing the space at the free right-hand end of the order sheet it becomes necessary to provide a means at the left-hand end of the sheet for removably retaining it in osition, the pocket at the right-hand end merely serving to retain the free ends of the sheets together and prevent them from curling up.

In use when the flexibly-ct)nneeted covers (A) and (B) are opened the sheets are um folded leaving the upper sheet spread out to receive data. \Vhen the upper s root is filled or the order taken, the operator strips the sheet oil' the angular ins or studs (9) disclosing the next blan; sheet. The sheets containing the orders are then forwarded to the home oflice where the orders are filled and the sheets placed in and constitute a part of the day-book. Obviously carbon sheets (not shown) may be placed between two or more order sheets to obtain duplicate or triplicate copies.

The device is simple and neat in appearance, economical in use and effects a great saving in labor and time, as it is unnecessary to recopy the orders after they are given by the eonsignor or merchant.

Having thus fully disclosed my invention, what I claim as new is- 1. The combination with a pair of llexiblyconnected covers, of a member on the outer face of one cover adapted to receive the thumb of the operator and a member on the outer face of the opposite cover adapted to receive the fingers of the operator.

2. The combination with a pair of flexiblyconnected covers, of a member extending transversely of one cover and adapted to receive the thumb of the operator and a second member extending longitudinally of the opposite cover and designed. to receive the fingers of the operator.

3. The combination with a pair of ilexiblyconnected covers, of a strap secured at one end to one of the covers near its inner longitudinal edge and extending transversely of the cover toward its outer longitudinal edge, a keeper under which the free end of the strap loosely passes, an enlargement on the free end of the strap, a second strap extending longitudinally of the o posite cover and located near the inner iongitudinal edge thereof, keepers under which the free ends of the longitudinally-extending strap pass and enlargements on the ends of the last-named stra for preventing its disengagement from the reepers.

4. lhe combination with the covers of a book, of lleXible straps secured to the outer faces of the covers and so located as to receive the fingers and thumb of an operator.

5. The combination with the covers of a book, of flexible straps secured to the outer f aces of the covers and so located as to receive the fingers and thumb of an operator, at least one end of each strap being free, keepers under which the free ends of the straps loosely pass, and means for preventing the disengagement of the free ends of the straps and the keeper.

6. The combination with the covers of a book, of a flexible strap extending transversely of one cover and a second flexible strap extending longitudinally of the remaining cover.

7. The combination with the covers of a book, of means carried by the covers and adapted to receive the thumb and fingers of an operator, whereby the book is secured to the hand and may be closed or opened by closing or opening the hand,

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

W ILLL M R. WILSON.

Witnesses:

WM. C. PIIIPIS, C. E. BORLAND. 

